This morning I saw a tweet claiming China now produces more solar power than every power plant in the United States combined.
That’s a big claim. If true, it says something important about where energy production is headed.
So I copied the tweet, pasted it into ChatGPT, and typed: “Validate this.”
What ChatGPT told me
The claim was false. It mixed up installed generating capacity with actual electricity produced — two very different numbers. Then it gave me real figures, with sources attached.
Ten seconds of work. One short prompt. A wrong claim caught before it could settle into my head as fact.
Many people skip this step
Here’s the thing: checking a claim like this is easy. Anyone can do what I just did. But many people won’t.
They’re too reactive, too distracted, or too used to treating a tweet as the final word instead of a starting point. So they either believe the claim or scroll past it without a second thought. Either way, they miss out on something AI makes almost effortless.
The real skill AI rewards
Managing your attention is a real skill in the age of AI. So is knowing how to evaluate information once you’ve slowed down enough to look at it.
Both skills matter more than any prompt trick. The best output doesn’t come from knowing the perfect phrasing — it comes from knowing when to stop, check something, and think a little harder before moving on.
A simple habit to build
When a claim surprises you or seems important, don’t just scroll past it.
Copy it, paste it into a chatbot, and ask it to validate the claim.
Read the answer for the sources, not just the verdict.
Treat that answer as your jumping-off point — you can dig deeper from there if the topic matters to you.
Bottom line
AI can’t make you pay attention. But if you’re already paying attention, it makes catching bad information almost too easy to skip.
;-)
Ernie
P.S. In the AI Workshop, we practice this kind of quick validation habit every week — so checking claims becomes automatic instead of a chore.